Tributes paid after death of popular butcher whose family served customers for over 100 years

Frank Fisher who ran Fisher & Son family butchers on High Street in Dronfield for many years before going into a care home, died earlier this month at the age of 90.

He started working in the shop as a butcher’s boy in 1943, while it was owned by his grandfather William, and eventually took it over in 1956 alongside his dad.

He was a familiar face to both young and old in Dronfield having continued to work until 2018 when he was forced to close the shop as his health declined.

Ann Powell, who first met Frank over 30 years ago when she took a part-time job doing meat deliveries, paid tribute following his passing.

She said: “I worked for Frank for five years and every year after that I used to go help him at Christmas up until the day he closed the shop.

"He was bachelor and he was a smashing bloke. I thought he was very kind and very understanding to a lot of people. He had customers who didn’t have a lot of money and he always made sure they had meat and stuff like that.

PEOPLE: Terminally ill Derbyshire mum planned for death to take 'stress' away from family

"I wouldn’t have worked for him or gone in every Christmas Eve, or two days before Christmas, to help him put the orders up if I hadn’t have got on really well with him.

She added: “Some people said he shop wasn’t this, that, or the other but you can only do so much. It was the old, original butchers shop with a concrete floor and the walk in freezer that was absolutely perishing but he did his best.”

Born in 1930, Frank lived at Shirecliffe Farm in Hilltop with his mum Florence, dad Percy and his older brother Bill.

He spent his entire adult living in the two-bed flat above the shop, a space he shared with his parents until they both passed.

Frank never married and did not have any children.

In 2017, the Derbyshire Times’ asked Frank what would happen to the shop after him, to which he replied: “I am not sure what will happen.

“I think I have done well to stay open for this long.”

Support your Derbyshire Times by becoming a digital subscriber. You will see 70 per cent fewer ads on stories, meaning faster load times and an overall enhanced user experience. Click here to subscribe.